Are you living from one asthma attack to another? Is your COPD so bad that walking up a flight of stairs makes you gasp for air? Or do you have to stop and catch your breath even when trying to walk across a room?
If so, you may be relying on a steroid inhaler, like Advair, Symbicort, or Pulmicort. But I’m going to tell you about a better solution, one that’s safe, effective, and affordable.
But first, a little background. Lung problems are on the rise, increasing by more than 40 percent from 1980-2003. More than 20 million adult Americans suffer from asthma alone.
Breathlessness, coughing, and wheezing are the most common symptoms of asthma. Inflammation and mucus make it difficult for the lungs of asthma sufferers to move air in and out.
Another 15 million Americans live with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), now the third leading cause of death in the U.S.
Women are increasingly at risk. They are nearly 40 percent more likely to be diagnosed with COPD than men, and the number of women dying from COPD has more than quadrupled since 1980.
COPD is actually an umbrella term for different lung disorders, such as emphysema or chronic bronchitis. Both limit the amount of air that can be taken into the lungs and make it difficult to breathe.
Symptoms of breathlessness and coughing up phlegm appear gradually. Many COPD sufferers don’t know they are ill until the disease becomes too serious to ignore.
Steroid inhalers can ease symptoms of these lung conditions. But steroids take a toll on your health. Patients often complain of oral thrush, a type of yeast infection in the mouth, hoarseness, dry mouth, and a sore throat. And that’s just with short-term use.
As for long-term use of these inhalers, forget about it! Patients who use steroid inhalers for years can end up with suppressed immune systems, weight gain, and elevated blood sugar. Many times, a patient on an inhaler develops other lung issues, too.
Fortunately, there is a better way to treat both these conditions.
Inhaling steroids don’t cure asthma or COPD. They simply make it easier to breathe by cutting down on swelling, inflammation, and mucus build-up in your lungs and airways.
But you can get the same results with a product called Quinton water, and colloidal silver, which has been used for more than 100 years to kill bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
When these two ingredients are put in a nebulizer, an air compressor also known as a breathing machine, the device turns the liquids into mist so they can be inhaled easily. For some patients, this type of nebulizer can replace a steroid inhaler.
A patient I’ll call Eric discovered how well these alternative inhalers work after he came to my clinic in bad shape.
Eric had been using steroid inhalers for nearly twenty years. A prestigious local university hospital had diagnosed him with asthma two decades earlier. Now, Eric was suffering from very uncomfortable side effects – a weakened immune system and weight management problems.
In addition, the university hospital doctors found a mass in one of Eric’s lungs, and suspected he might have lung cancer, so he came to my clinic to get a second opinion.
After running some tests, I determined that Eric did have cancer. But his breathing problems were caused by a nasty fungal infection in his lungs, made possible by the long-term inhaler use.
But the testing I had done also revealed that Eric did not have asthma! So the steroids he’d been inhaling for two decades had only caused his health to deteriorate, without providing him with any benefits.
Once Eric began using the nebulizer, Quinton water, and colloidal silver, he noticed a big difference in how he felt, even though he was being treated for cancer at my clinic. “It’s much easier for me to breathe now, and that’s a huge relief,” he explained. “And I’ve finally been able to start exercising again, so I’ve lost a few pounds, too. I actually feel like I’m getting my life back.”
If you or someone you know is living with breathing problems – especially COPD or asthma — a nebulizer, Quinton water, and colloidal silver can solve the steroid inhaler side-effect problem and help you breathe easy. (Please don’t try substituting another type of water or liquid for the Quinton water, though. That is an essential element in this “recipe.”)
You can buy a nebulizer at most medical supply stores. And colloidal silver and Quinton water are both available online. Inhaled steroids are far easier to stop using than medication in pill form, which has to be decreased very slowly. But it’s always a good idea to discuss changing treatment with your physician.
Disclaimer: Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
Last Updated: August 16, 2018
Originally Published: July 2, 2014
